Businesses and other organizations spend a large part of their budget and other resources on learning services. Furthermore, the percentage of budgets devoted to learning services has been growing significantly. Part of this growth is driven by use of technology in corporations. Over the past 30 years, technology has become so essential to corporations that expenditures have grown from five percent of capital spending in 1970 to almost 50 percent today. Consequently, individuals in corporations and other organizations must continually acquire and apply new skills in use of technology, as well as other skill improvements needed to perform their ever changing job functions.
Technological improvements have also enabled new delivery modes of learning as explained in related application Ser. No. 10/729,761 filed Dec. 5, 2003 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Corporate learning organizations put a lot of time, effort, and budget into careful design and delivery of courses to help people do their jobs better. Yet, research shows that between 70 percent and 80 percent of learning actually happens on the job, not in a training room or e-learning course. It is therefore of strategic importance to the firm that this learning channel not be left to chance. Furthermore, organizations need to have methods for allocating resources to learning activities in this new learning channel. It is believed such methods would constitute a significant advancement in the learning services arts.